Slipstream
by Kuroshi884
Summary: The prototype of the newest plane didn't just affect one person.
1. EMIYA

**A/N: Here, have another story.**

* * *

"Are you ready, Lena?"

She grinned, "Of course I am, big guy!" And ready she really was. Lena Oxton, one of the best pilots on the planet, was about to fly a prototype for a _teleporting_ airplane.

"Okay, okay." Winston laughed with her. He believed in her. If anyone could do it, it was Lena, "Remember, though, if you get into any trouble, the comms link is always open."

"Oh, you worry too much luv! I'll be fine." She gave one last hug to the gorilla, "I'll see you in a bit, 'kay?" Winston returned the hug. He would never tell her this due to his past with the Lunar Colony, but he saw the peppy Brit as the sister he never had.

' _Would you have been happy for me, Harold?'_

They separated, and Lena practically bounced to the Slipstream. She went through the pre-flight preparations, obviously experienced as she glided across the controls. Athena then started with the countdown.

"Take off in 3…"

"Hey Winston, your birthday is coming up, right?"

"How di-I can't hide anything from you can I?"

"2…"

"Yep! I've got a surprise waiting for you when I get back, so look forward to that!"

A low chuckle, "I can't wait."

"1." A whoop of excitement rang through the comms unit.

It would be the last thing they hear of Lena Oxton for a long time.

* * *

Time was something that never needed to be tampered with. Sure, some people like the Kaleidoscope messed with it sometimes, but there wasn't really much in the way of stopping Zelretch from doing whatever the hell he wanted.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case now.

A human had just become temporally misplaced, and had been noticed by the worst possible 'thing'.

Alaya.

It' saw' how the human blinked through the folds of time. It was akin to poking a hole through a piece of cloth, and stitching it back together repeatedly. Eventually, however, there will come a time when the hole can't be repaired, the the entire cloth will be worthless.

It couldn't happen. No matter what, it couldn't happen.

Still, Alaya couldn't just kill the human. Doing so would create a paradox because right now, the human was something that existed, yet didn't exist.

So, it did the next best thing. It 'pushed' its influence, and prepared to bring an idea to one of the creatures on the planet.

At the same time, Alaya 'gently' guided the human to another world.

A world where its greatest warrior endlessly waited.

* * *

She was scared. For the first time in a long time, she was utterly terrified. She remembered being in the Slipstream, remembered the feeling of being there, but not there.

She didn't remember coming here though.

Lena looked around. She was standing on a hill, the sky tinted red and gears somehow floating in the sky. The place was filled with smog, the smell of steel filling the air almost choking her.

Then there were the swords.

All across the hill, swords were stabbed into the ground. Short swords, long swords, curved swords, hell she saw one whose width was taller than her.

Seeing nothing better to do, the pilot walked up the hill. Every step felt heavy, and her body seemed ready to collapse.

Still, she persisted.

Finally, she reached the top. There, a white haired man stood, looking off into the distance.

"H-Hello? Um, d'you know where we are?" Lena silently cursed herself for stuttering. It didn't matter though, for the silence was the reply.

"Hello?" She tried again, thinking maybe he didn't hear her. Cautiously, she approached him. If he decided to attack her, he would easily overpower her, going by hi-

 _I *m **e bo*e ** m* *w**d._

She gasped as the air felt even heavier. Something about those words, even if she didn't really 'hear' them, struck her.

Strangely enough, it only made her want to come closer. And she did.

She walked towards the man until they were side by side. She could make out the features of his face, yet he still didn't seem to pay her any mind.

' _He's really tall…'_

She contemplated waving her hand in front of him, but immediately discarded that thought. She looked at his face once more, and saw that his eyes looked…lonely?

' _...maybe this is just a hallucination? Or maybe…maybe I'm dead?'_

She turned in the direction he was looking, just to get an idea on what was going on.

Sunlight.

Sunlight was peeking out the smog that covered the hill. Lena couldn't help looking at it.

It was mesmerizing.

She sat down next to the tall man, who was as stoic as ever.

"...This reminds me of the time when I…"

Let it be known that Lena Oxton didn't like silence. When it was quiet, she felt scared, unreasonably so. That's why she talked.

She talked, and talked, and talked.

The more she talked, the less scared she became. The more she talked, the more comfortable the hill seemed. She didn't know how long she spent there, talking about her life to the ever-silent man, but when she stopped, she found that the air wasn't as suffocating, that the gears in the sky weren't odd.

She was at peace here.

' _If this is just a hallucination, then this was something I could get used to...'_

"So there I was, little 6 year old Lena, running around like a bloody lunatic."

' _...and if I'm dead, then the afterlife isn't so b-.'_

It wasn't meant to be, however. She cut herself off as a peculiar feeling shook her.

A blink.

The hill of swords faded away, and was replaced by something very familiar.

' _I'm in London?'_

She stood there for a full minute. Soon enough, people started noticing her. After a few more seconds, the whispers and pointing came. That was what it took to make her bolt to the nearest Overwatch outpost, which she recalled was conveniently just a block away.

She ran, her legs burning as she dodged around the sea of people. After what seemed like an eternity, she reached it. The familiar Overwatch symbol on the front made her heart race.

The door was halfway open when the increasingly familiar feeling coursed through her once again. Her eyes widened.

"He-!"

A blink.

And again, she was standing on the hill of swords.

She let out an anguished cry. She was _so_ close. She felt hot tears flow down her face. She collapsed on the ground and pulled her legs close to her chest.

She cried for the life she had seemingly left behind.

* * *

"Winston?"

"Go away, Athena."

Winston was a complete wreck. Three months after the "Slipstream Incident", as the media had taken to calling it, and the gorilla still blamed himself for the accident. No matter what anyone said, the guilt eating at him wouldn't go away.

"Winston?"

' _Damn me and my calculations. If only I'd gone over them again, this may not have happened.'_

"Winston."

' _God, I haven't even talked to anyone after it. This is what I am, isn't it? A coward, who can't even face his own goddamn actions.'_

"Winston!"

' _I never should have left Horizon. I should have just died with the other scientists. Maybe then I-'_

A noise that could only be an exasperated sigh came from Athena. To his left, the monitor turned on to show a news broadcast that Winston ignored.

Until a name popped up, at least.

" _-ess reports, Lena Oxton, who was labeled dead after the failed Slipstream test, was seen running through the streets of London towards the Overwatch branch."_

The gorilla immediately snapped to attention.

He watched as a video, obviously taken from a phone, showed as the pilot, still in her uniform, was making a mad dash through the mass of people.

"Athena, contact the hangar. I'm going to London."

* * *

 _St**l i* m* ***y, fi*e *s m* b*oo*._

Her sobs came to an abrupt end as yet again, words that she didn't really hear resonated. She looked to her side.

The man was still there. How she didn't notice escaped her.

She talked.

"I was there. I was right THERE!"

She choked back another sob.

"I wanna go back. I want to go back, to meet new people! I want to do the little things that I always did!"

She punched the scorched ground.

"I want to live! I want to live the life I always took for granted! I want to-!"

"Sometimes, the things we want never come true."

Lena turned her head fast enough that it was a miracle that she didn't get a whiplash. A deep baritone voice spoke, and it came from none other than the red-clad man.

"Yet, I believe that this time will be the opposite."

 _I *a*e cre*t** o**r a t*ou*a*d ***de*._

A feeling rose in her chest.

All was silent. She looked at him as he once more stared into the sunlight. Slowly, a small smile grew on her face. She wiped away the tears that were stubbornly clinging on to her.

"...Thanks. I needed that."

She took her position next to him once more, "Now, where was I?" Her tone was still a bit watery, but she pressed forward. Her companion was once more silent as the grave, but it didn't dull her hope.

If she was gonna be honest, his silence only fueled her hope.

Once more, time flew by. Lena hands stopped with her stories, and the man hadn't spoken again.

A feeling that she was now very familiar with.

A blink.

London.

* * *

When Lena appeared for a second time, they were ready. The entirety of London was covered by Overwatch operatives, 24/7, two weeks after her initial reappearance.

Winston couldn't help but still be paranoid.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" he asked the driver of the military-grade vehicle he was in. It was larger than most hover cars on the market, but it was still a tight fit considering he's who he is.

"I'm sorry sir, but any faster and we would be risking civilians."

A sigh, "It's fine." And in a way, it was. At least he'll have time to think about his little theory.

Going by the reports, Lena was still wearing the same uniform from the test, so either she managed to wash them during the three months that she was gone, or something else was happening.

Considering that people saw her literally fade into thin air, he ruled out the first option.

The second option then had him conducting a massive search for the lost Slipstream, which was coincidentally found near the outskirts of London.

It was in perfect condition.

Not a single bump or scratch. Not even dirty. It was just parked in the middle of a soccer field, looking like it was always there. Upon investigation, the people living near the area said that it appeared the day before, and that they had already filed a report for Overwatch.

Strangely, when they reviewed the security tapes, it was _always_ there. People would pass through it, but the plane itself looked completely real.

This all started to add pieces to the puzzle. When the Slipstream was created, they wanted to fold the fabric of space, creating a wormhole, allowing teleportation. What they seemed to forget is that space and time are interconnected. When they messed with teleportation, they didn't just allow the Slipstream to travel through space, they allowed it to travel through _time_.

One thing stuck to Winston's mind though: the Slipstream was mechanically engineered to travel through both time and space, yet the human body was not.

He hypothesized that the pilot was suffering from 'chronal disassociation'.

The whats and hows could wait, however. The problem now would be how to fix it. Maybe if he-

The brakes slammed and Winston's head almost hit the seat in front of him.

"Sir, isn't that Ms. Oxton?"

The gorilla looked to the right, and right there, Lena was running like a bat from hell. He immediately opened the door, almost breaking it in the process, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"LENA!"

She stopped, "Winston!? What are you doing here?"

"No time to explain. Get in, quick."

Confusion, then a nod. They got in, and Lena frowned, "This car feels…different."

The gorilla finished getting in the back, and answered, "Well, yes. The car is specifically made so that you won't, for lack of better words, 'fade away', or at least prolong it."

The car started moving, "Winston, what's going on?"

So he explained. It took most of the ride for him to fully explain her situation, but she was strangely calm about it. Then, he asked the one question he wanted an answer for, "What happened when you were…gone?"

She looked to the side, "I was…on a hill of swords, and there was this guy. Tall, white haired, and would just stare into the sun the entire time. Then there were these…words. I couldn't understand them, but they were important."

A frown look appeared on Winston's face, but he didn't say anything.

A few seconds of silence, "So, what now?"

"Well, I'm making something so that you won't fade away again, something more permanent that a staying in a car. Right now, we're heading to an Overwatch facility where-"

"We're here." The driver called out.

A grim look, "I guess I really don't have-"

For the third time today, Winston was cut off, "Winston, it's happening again."

The scientist's eyes widened, "No, dammit! I thought I had more time!" His hands tightened into fists, but she merely smiled.

"Don't worry big guy. I've got faith in ya."

She disappeared.

* * *

"So…it looks like I'll be leaving soon."

She stared at the ever stationary sun longingly, "I'll miss this place. Even if it's just in my mind."

 _Un*o** t* dea**, n*r k**wn to li*e._

She had gotten used to the heard-but-not-heard words after the first three times.

 _Ha*e wit**t*od p*in to *re*te *ou*t*ess we*p*ns._

"...this really has been a ride for the ages, eh? 'Least I won't I'll have a story to tell at Christmas" she joked, and for a split second, she swore she saw him smile. It was gone when she blinked though.

 _Yet t*ose **nds wil* ne*er h*ld anyt*ing._

She sat next to him, and copied what he had been doing for the longest time: his endless gaze into the horizon. She wanted this to last, funnily enough.

 _So as I pray._

She heard the air behind her split. She turned, and heart heart leapt to her throat as she saw swords flying towards them at high speeds. This hadn't happened before.

They stopped right in front of her eyes. A beat, with her only staring at the edge of the rather plain broadsword.

Suddenly, they converged, and right in front of her eyes, the swords began to shrink and change. Soon, they were in the form of a small necklace of sorts.

It landed in the man's hand.

"Take this. You'll need it."

 _Unlimited Blade Works._

She took the necklace, and after a brief moment, put it on. She blinked.

She was in a strange room.

"Lena! I think I've done it!"

"Wha-Winston?!"

She saw the large mammal enter the room, with a glowing device in his hand, "I call it the Chronal Accelerator. It should stabilize your molecules so that you'll stay in this time frame. You'll be briefed about it later, but for now,"

Winston gave a big smile, "Welcome home, Lena."

Another blink. She smiled, "I'm glad to be back."

She didn't notice that she was wearing till she took a bath.

* * *

It was time. The human was no longer fluctuating in time. It had to be destroyed _now_.

Strangely, Alaya couldn't do it. And it knew why.

It turned to the world of blades, and the Archer perched on the hill.

"Oh? You're wondering why I gave a part of my Works to her."

It 'felt' annoyed.

"It's simple, really. While we exist outside the flow of time, I, as well as every other Counter Guardian, am a paradox. Kill even one of us, and you risk the fate of humanity." he smirked triumphantly, "Similarly, try to destroy her, and you'll be destroying _my_ soul."

It was a gamble on his part. He knew that the Counter Forces have almost limitless power, but he was betting that that power doesn't extend to another World.

It worked.

Alaya definitely showed its displeasure. He felt pain course throughout his body. He stood his ground. This pain was nothing compared to his life. It went on for who knows how long, and then it suddenly faded away. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"...I hope that I made the right decision, Lena Oxton."

Still, with how, after all this time, he had managed to slip one under his 'employer's' nose, he was proud of himself.

For once in his eternity of existence, EMIYA _saved_ someone.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Sometimes, I don't know what I write anymore. Tbh, I don't think that this story is that good. Also, I might write an epilogue for this one.**

 **Anyway, to clear a few things up, the person that saved Jack from my other story, 'Heroes', was Shirou, not EMIYA. I put this here cause I don't want to update that story just for an author's note.**

 **Side note: this story and the previous one exist in the same universe. If I were to continue writing stories involving FSN and OW, assume them to be in the same universe as this one.**

 **Disclaimer: I own my socks, but not Overwatch or the Fate series.**


	2. Angela

**A/N: What's this? An epilogue? Woo hoo.**

* * *

Angela sighed as she flipped open a file. It was around six in the morning and she had only slept for about three hours, made evident by the bags under her eyes.

She really needed some coffee. That could wait though, as she had been assigned to a patient, one 'Lena Oxton'.

She skipped over the useless (in her eyes) bits of information and found what she was looking for.

… _Oxton initially refused to give up the object to the Research Department, though after it was agreed that she could stay in the same room, she relented. When questioned, she merely said that she "felt as I couldn't leave it". Some have theorized that she holds a sentimental attachment to it, but without professional diagnosis, we aren't sure._

 _The object, a necklace, was nothing like we've ever seen. It was light, yet dense and nearly indestructible. Our first test involved simply trying to cut it using plasma, despite Oxton's protests. The necklace was completely fine, no signs of damage. Everyone was flabbergasted, but at least it stopped any more complaints from Oxton._

 _Our next test was crude, even by my standard. It involved putting as much mass on the necklace to see what would happen. The heaviest we got to was ten tons, and that was only because we didn't have anything heavier. Again, the necklace showed no signs of damage._

 _We tried several more tests after that, and each time, no damage was done. Upon closer look at the composition of the object, it was found that it was made of nothing but ordinary steel. In the end, we returned the object to Oxton as we could not get her to leave the area, and her new 'time traveling' abilities made it impossible to for security to escort her out._

 _The second thing we analyzed was Oxton's jacket. On it, we found traces of different metals. It consisted of regular materials such as iron, bronze and such, but it also contained metals that we've yet to recognize. It's as if they don't even exist on the periodic table! For now, we've kept her jacket and are still looking into it._

 _On to Oxton herself. Physically, she seems to be in a flux. Her molecules are only stable due to her proximity with Senior Researcher Winston's device. We aren't sure of this because this is the first recorded incident of this ever happening. Mentally is another problem. We don't know how the time she spent in-flux has affected her, so we recommend a full psychological evaluation…_

Angela closed the folder and sighed. She had read enough. She had been assigned as the pilot's psychologist the night before, never mind that she wasn't one. Another sigh.

Three hours to prepare for the first session.

She decided that she needed that coffee _now._

…

Three crisp knocks sounded on Angela's office door.

Well, at least she's on time.

"Hullo there Dr. Zeigler."

"Ah, Ms. Oxton, I believe that we have an evaluation to get through?"

The pilot frowned, "I still say that this is rubbish. I already told them that I'm fine."

The doctor chuckled, "If it makes you feel any better, I feel the same way. Unfortunately, orders are orders. Shall we?"

…

The first hour or so involved questions, both verbal and written. Going over them, she felt already felt that Lena was perfectly healthy. Still, the chain of command would kill her for doing just that.

So, Angela had Lena draw. Apparently, the time traveler had a knack for art, if the biography released when she was presumed dead was of any accuracy.

* * *

Swords.

Of all the things she could draw, she drew swords. Longswords, broadswords, katanas, and more, all of them for some reason stabbed into the ground. Angela didn't understand it.

She must have voiced her confusion since Lena just grinned, "Oh, that's not even the best part." She grabbed all the pieces of paper, and arranged them. She didn't notice at first, but the pilot had drawn some strange gears, though not nearly as many as the swords.

Soon, Angela could see a single picture. A hill, filled with swords stabbed into the ground, while gears and smog polluted the sky.

In the middle of it, standing on top of the hill, were Lena and a man in red. Their backs were the only thing seen as they stared off into the sunlight that was streaming through the clouds.

It was beautiful, yet Angela couldn't help but feel a sense of loneliness when looking at it.

"Like I told Winston, this is what I saw when I was gone. You might tell me that it was just in my head, but…" Lena fingered her necklace, "...something tells me it wasn't." She looked at the clock.

"Oh, sorry Doc, but I gotta run. See ya tomorrow!"

The door opened and closed.

The doctor looked at the image once more. The loneliness only strengthened as Lena left. Her eyes scoured the different swords, in an effort to stave off the frankly weird emotion.

A spiraling sword.

A slab of rock.

An elegant katana.

All of them were strange, yet her attention drew to the only paired weapons in the entire thing. A pair of curved black and white swords; falchions if she recalled correctly. They spoke to her, the mere image of them, while not exactly filling the growing void, brought a strange sense of comfort.

Angela sighed, something she'd been doing a bit too much lately.

' _I need some sleep.'_

* * *

 _When she was young, Angela dreamed big. An orphan with no home, no family, and friends she could count on one hand and still have a couple left over. One thing separated her from the rest of the orphans on the street: she was a genius. The principal of the local public school had taken notice of her and had enrolled her in an advanced class, meant for high-schoolers._

 _And she was only eight at the time._

 _Things were looking up for her when she turned twelve and was offered a scholarship, yet she still dreamed. She dreamed of making the world a better place, where no one would be hurt. Some would call it a foolish dream, and maybe it was, but she wasn't going to give up._

 _Dreams are only dreams when one refuses to make them a reality, after all._

" _Well," A strained voice, as if the owner was doing something very difficult, sounded from behind her, "You certainly took your sweet time."_

 _The world blurred with static._

 _A blink._

 _The hill of swords._

" _Wha-where am I?" Angela was confused. She was older now, and the flame of the dream that she held onto when she was young was naught but an ember._

" _Are you going to continue to ignore me?" She jumped. She turned to the source of the voice. Again, the world blurred with static._

 _The man in red, his face scrunched up in focus._

" _W-who are you?" she found herself asking._

" _That doesn't matter. You won't even remember this conversation. What does matter, is Lena Oxton."_

 _Angela's eyes narrowed. Lena was her patient, and dream or not, she was her responsibility, "What's wrong with her?"_

 _A shake of his head, "Nothing is wrong with her. However, you, her, and many others are about to be involved in something big. Something that not even my 'employer'", he spat out the word as if it were some vile word, "Could have predicted."_

 _He suddenly lurched as if he was in pain, "I don't have much time. Just remember this, if nothing else: Overwatch will need you. Both of you. I do not know the exact time, but it will be soon. Goodbye."_

* * *

She woke up to beeping. Her arm rolled over the snooze button. She wanted to go back to sleep.

Then, she recalled something. A dream, but a dream of what? She remembered her childhood, of the childish wish she had grown out.

Then, she remembered something else. Something she was sure she hadn't heard before.

' _Overwatch will need you? What a load of-'_

Knocking.

She groaned. It was too early for this.

The knocking grew more agitated.

"Give me a moment."

She dragged herself to the door. It was almost painful to get up from bed.

The knocking increased even further, and as she drew closer, she could faintly hear what sounded like screams and gunshots.

Her heart started to pound.

She opened the door.

Lena.

"Doctor Zeigler, thank God you're okay. Quick, we need to get outta here. Omnics are attacking the town." The pilot looked rattled, and the doctor couldn't blame her. Angela nodded, eyes wide.

"I-I need to get something." Before Lena could reply, she had already rushed back to her office and grabbed a briefcase.

It took less than a minute, but when she got back, Lena looked absolutely terrified.

"Doc, what're you doing?! We need to go!" she whisper-yelled. Angela held the briefcase close to her, "L-lead the way."

They left the building they were in, and it was a massacre. People were dead and dying everywhere, fires were spreading throughout the small town.

The childish wish in her _burned_ at the sight.

"RUN!" Lena's voice shocked her out of her trance. She looked behind as the time traveler dragged her.

Bastion units. Three of them.

She never felt more scared than now.

She screamed as a rain of bullets made their way towards them. Cover. They needed cover. There, that slab of fallen concrete. They dived for it.

She felt something warm splash in her eyes.

The coppery smell told her all that she needed.

Blood.

Yet, it wasn't hers.

"Dammit…looks like it's the end of the line for me." Lena bled from her left shoulder, and Angela could see several bullet holes. She couldn't "Recall" as Lena put it, as she would still be in the Bastion units' line of fire.

She would bleed out. There was nothing she could do. Except…

"You're not dying here today. Neither of us are."

She opened the briefcase. A small device, almost like a grenade, sat innocently. She needed to hurry. The Bastions were slowly moving up.

"Please, hold still." She twisted the cap, and a golden stream of light flowed into Lena. The pilot meanwhile was dumbfounded as the bullets were literally pushed out of her, and the bullet wounds quickly disappeared.

"What was that?" Angela smiled lightly as Lena stared in awe, "Just something I've been working on in my spare time. Now, I think we need to run?"

The Bastion units had stopped, the golden light confusing them for a few crucial seconds.

"Right."

They bolted full sprint, Angela following Lena, and Lena leading them towards somewhere.

More gunfire, but the little device staved off the pain. They needed to hurry, though. It was going to run out of power soon.

As if Murphy himself heard them, the device crackled, and the golden light faded.

And again, blood.

This time, there was pain.

Right thigh, nothing lethal. But by God, the pain. She breathed heavily, stifling her screams as Lena shouted in alarm.

"Go. I'll only drag you behind. Hell, I think that I've already done that." She looked to the sky. Red. Strange. It was nearly nine, but the sky was red.

"I'm not leaving you here, no matter what you tell me." Lena dragged them both to cover once more. The Bastions were closing in. Huh. The footsteps sounded like the truck her old Chemistry teacher had.

' _Shut up. You're delirious.'_

Oh? A voice that isn't hers inside her head? That wasn't right. Her head is her own, and no one enters what she owns without permission.

' _Oh, for God's sake, stop.'_

Shut up, mean voice!

' _Dammit, I'm trying to help you over here.'_

Angela doesn't need your help!

' _Really? Then you don't need help in ducking?'_

Wha-

Yet another hail of gunfire as the Omnics unleash hell.

' _Now, if you'll listen-Nevermind. Looks like your backup is here.'_

Three large blasts, and bullets stop.

"You alright there ladies?"

Her watery eyes saw the figure of a man holding what looked to be two shotguns,standing over the 'corpses' of the three Omnics. How does he reload them, she wondered.

"Well, I don't."

"I, uh, really think that we need to get her to a medic. She was talking to herself earlier."

"Yeah, I can see that." He holstered his shotguns and carried Angela, "Come on. The safe zone's about two minutes from here."

"Right. Oh, uh, I'm Lena Oxton, and that's Doctor Angela Zeigler."

"I know. Name's Gabriel Reyes. Now if you don't mind, I prefer that we save the pleasantries when there aren't Omnics out to kill us."

* * *

EMIYA fell to his knees. What he just did was one of the most difficult things he'd had to do in a long time.

When he gave Oxton that necklace, it wasn't just some random blueprint. It was a nameless Noble Phantasm, owned by a bandit who had a knack of carving messages into his victims. When he altered it, it retained its ability to conceptualize messages, though doing so from such a distance from both the sender and the receiver were taking to say the least.

At least he'd given her his message in time.

"Now…it's all up to you." he spoke to the endless swords in his Works. He was talking to himself after all.

The sun burned brightly, and on the World, another man, almost similar to EMIYA, looked up to the moon.

"I guess it's time."

* * *

 **A/N: Before I forget: Thanks to xbox432 for pointing out the small mistake in my author's notes last time. It's been (hopefully) fixed.**

 **This officially marks this story as complete. Still, I felt this one lacked something that the first chapter had. Or maybe it's just me. I will probably continue to write stories, but I think it'll be several short stories instead of one massive one, cause that's gonna be a fuckfest for me to try to handle too many conflicting personalities. Hell, this one was already pushing it, I feel.**


	3. Shirou

**A/N: Blame FGO.**

* * *

Once again, Shirou and his team had been called in to investigate a possible rogue Magus. This is due to the fact that the Second Owner of the city, John Finnigan, detected an unknown Bounded Field around an old home, and when he tested it, its purpose was to apparently impose a mild compulsion on non-Magi. The compulsion itself was harmless, as it only warded away the mundane away from the general vicinity.

Finnigan then tried to investigate the home further. The garden was untouched, literally. The plants had all dried up, implying that it hadn't been watered in while. He approached the front porch, but stopped after finding the door to be unlocked. This was what set off alarm bells in his head, as no self-respecting Magus would dare allow the door to their own home to be left open as it were. If they were to leave it open, then it was most likely a trap, but with the Bounded Field still in place, he didn't think it likely a trap. As such, Finnigan contacted the Clock Tower for a formal investigation.

When the team got there, Shirou immediately Analyzed the Bounded Field. What at first looked like a simple Mystery quickly grew as he found that it was actually several layers deep. Most were standard alert Fields, like the one he had back in Fuyuki. Some of the other Bounded Fields were quite peculiar though.

One was constantly absorbing energy from the ley line that was below the city in order to power the rest of the Fields. It was an insignificant amount of energy, but the Field was the first of its kind, at least to his knowledge.

Another one was meant to imprint a bit of Prana onto any intruders, and again, it was insignificant to most Magi. However, as he looked further into it, Shirou found that it was there because of another rather lethal Field.

Basically, once the intruders are marked, the Field would force the foreign Prana into a person, and similar to Kiritsugu's Origin Bullets, the Prana would poison the person with its Element and Origin.

At this stage, he couldn't determine either the Element or Origin, but if the necrosis of one of his men's liver was of any indication, it wasn't good.

Moving on, the final layer proved to be even more dangerous than that. While the energy being drained from the ley lines were used to power the Fields, some of it was siphoned into the house itself. By doing so, it was Reinforcing the house, making it nigh indestructible.

The problem is that, as any Magus should know, Reinforcing something to beyond its capacity makes for quite an explosive result.

They needed to hurry this up. Shirou quickly Traced Rule Breaker and destroyed all of the Bounded Fields. Even then, he wouldn't dare enter the house. The sheer density of Prana would be dangerous to normal humans.

"I want every building in a three mile radius to be completely evacuated. Quarantine the entire city if you have to."

Everyone went to do just that. Shirou didn't need to explain. The amount of Prana in the house was dense enough to be felt in the air by even the mundanes.

Twelve hours. That was his estimate before the house, and the next few blocks, blow up.

* * *

Three hours later, the sun had set. Shirou frowned. The authorities had been proving very difficult to deal with. Their newly automated systems were causing problems with the hypnosis attempts of his squad. That wasn't even considering the Omnics that would refuse to evacuate the area. They had no way of forcing them to move unless they incited physical violence as using Magecraft was out of the question.

As Shirou pondered on what he was going to do, the sound of helicopters rang in the distance. He frowned. Had the media gotten wind of this and were now trying to find out what was happening.

Shirou cursed to himself. He was gonna get an earful from the Clock Tower.

Fortunately, as he looked at the flying objects, they weren't news stations trying to get the latest scoop. Unfortunately, it was something much worse.

Overwatch.

While he applauded the organization for their efforts, Magecraft as a whole was beginning to get harder and harder as Overwatch's influence started to grow. In one instance, Shirou had interacted with one of their 'Heroes' in a restaurant in London of all places. 'Lena Oxton' he believed her name was. It was nice, now that he thought about it, to talk to someone who wasn't aware of his status.

Though, the looks she gave him and how she clutched her necklace was quite weird.

Shirou shook his head as one of the helicopters landed on the street in front of the house. As armed Overwatch agents came out of the vehicle, Shirou couldn't help but snort.

Speak of the devil.

* * *

"I'm telling you Angela, I'm not insane! I know what I saw, and I know that he's-"

"Lena, you're under a lot of stress. You may think you saw this 'Shiroo Emiah' as the same person you saw during the whole Slipstream Incident, but that was just a hallucination, remember?"

Lena bit her lip as Angela sighed, and the rest of the agents simply watched on in amusement. The whole debacle started around two weeks ago, when Lena went into London to grab lunch. After that, it was something out of a cheesy TV drama, if she was gonna be honest.

She saw _him_. Tall, white haired, tanned skin and even the same stare! She was gonna admit it; she completely froze when she saw him. It took her nearly a full two minutes before she got the courage to go up to him. Unlike back then, he didn't just stare off in the distance. Hell, she even got his name.

 _Shirou Emiya._ They talked for nearly the entire lunch hour, and Lena found herself enjoying it as much as the silent companionship on the hill. Unluckily enough, just as she was about to talk about the hill itself, she got a call from Commander Morrison. She remembered frowning and excusing herself from their table.

After begging her Commander for a few minutes, he relented and gave her a half hour lunch extension. She had smiled and rushed back into the restaurant.

Shirou was gone.

Apparently, Shirou had told the waiter to tell her that he needed to be somewhere and that he hoped that paying for their meals would be an acceptable apology. It wasn't much of an apology, really, but at least Lena knew that that encounter was real.

The medic just wouldn't believe her! Shirou Emiya was most definitely real, and was most definitely the man on the hill of swords!

"Fine, I'll drop it for now," she huffed, "And its Shirou Emiya!"

' _Note to self: ask Winston_ again _to search up Shirou in the database.'_ While the scientist was a close friend of hers, Angela had told him to not, under any circumstances, indulge in her 'hallucinations'.

That didn't mean she couldn't try. Again. And again. And again.

She'll wear him down eventually.

"ETA in thirty seconds." Everyone in the helicopter immediately tensed. The mission was a rather shady one, even on paper. An anonymous tip regarding a previously unknown, underground and active Omnium? It screamed of trap, but they couldn't risk it being true.

That's why both of them were sent in. Angela had her Staff, while Lena had her Chronal Accelerator, both of which would basically ensure that they, and mostly anyone, would get out of the situation alive.

The helicopter lurched as it touched down. Lena grabbed her pistols as the doors flew open.

Her guns promptly fell out of her hands.

* * *

' _Strange,'_ he thought, _'The Bounded Field should have kept them ignorant of the area.'_ Shirou Analyzed their weapons, something that had been ingrained into him after years of being an Enforcer.

The nameless agents all held standard, mass-produced Pulse Rifles. Tracer and Mercy held ,or in in the case end the former, dropped, a pair of fully-automatic Pulse Pistols and the Caduceus Staff respectively.

Tracer's glowing blue chest piece was something quite different though. Shirou frowned as he couldn't comprehend it. That meant one of a few things: it was too complex of a scientific instrument for Unlimited Blade Works, it was something not of this Earth, or it was something that rivaled to a True Magic.

Seeing as only Ea had been categorized into the second, and he didn't get a splitting headache from trying to Analyze it like the Kaleidoscope, he chalked it up to the first one.

Shirou watched on amusingly as Tracer grabbed Mercy and proceeded to rapidly whisper at her. His Reinforced ears easily heard them, even as the agents surrounded him, Rifles at the ready.

"Hands in their air. State your business here, or we will use lethal force."

" _That's him, Angela! That's_ him _! And you wouldn't believe me!"_

"Local law enforcement, my team and I were sent to investigate suspicious activities in the area." Shirou was never good at lying. That's why he told them the truth, or at least part of it. True, he was part of the 'local law enforcement', wherein local meant everywhere that the Clock Tower had influence, and the law they were enforcing meant the secrecy of Magecraft.

" _Quiet, Lena. We still don't know if he's trouble or not."_

"This is an Overwatch operation now, so leave." The agents lowered their weapons, though they still looked ready to spring into action at any moment. In response, Shirou shrugged, "Sorry, but I don't answer to you. Unless my boss tells me otherwise, I'm not leaving."

The weapons were raised again, "Leave,"

He stared back unflinchingly, "No."

A tense standoff between a passive Shirou and rather twitchy agents. Shirou focused on the sound of the guns, ready to act if necessary. It must have lasted a full minute, before it was broken by Tracer.

* * *

"WAIT!"

Everyone looked at her incredulously as the atmosphere lightened, "Um, he can stay for now. I mean, he's kinda right, you know? We don't really have jurisdiction to give orders to law enforcement, do we?" Slowly, everyone relaxed.

"Hn. Well said, Oxton-san." Shirou crossed his arms as Tracer frowned, "None'o that. I told you to call me Lena."

"Doing so would be quite impolite, Oxton-san." Shirou smirked in amusement, "Enough of that, however. May I inquire as to why you are here?"

"Lena," Angela said warningly, "You're not going to do what I think you're gonna do?"

"Oh, we suspect that there's a sentient, self-improving factory under that house."

Angela sighed in exasperation. Leave it to her to spew out secrets like that, "What? He was gonna find out eventually." Lena argued.

Strangely, when the mention of Omniums came up, Shirou didn't seem to be too worried. A raised eyebrow was the only indication that he understood what it was.

A few more moments of complete silence. No one knew what to do.

"Sir, the-uhhh." A man in a strange sort of what Angela assumed to be body armor appeared next to Shirou. Though she didn't show it, she was dumbfounded. Every single person in Overwatch was a trained operative, and there was no way someone else could have come towards them without anyone noticing.

Speaking of the man, he had cut himself off as Shirou glared at him, a clear signal to 'be quiet or else'.

Her hands gripped the shaft of her Staff. They were hiding something.

As if in response, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Everyone clearly felt it, as they all looked around nervously. Shirou and the man were tense, as if they knew what it was.

Oddly enough, the white haired man looked as if he were _sniffing_ the air.

* * *

Rotting, bloody, unearthly. Those were the only ways he could describe the scent. He knew this scent, he _knew_ it, but there was something completely wrong about it at the same time.

They needed to get out of here, secrecy be damned.

Shirou grabbed the Enforcer and whispered to him discretely.

" _Dead Apostle."_

Immediately, the man's eyes widened. He was a rookie, only joining the Shirou's squad of Enforcers about a month ago. He was disowned by his own family for being a substandard Magus, which was quite true. He only knew how the basics of pyrokinesis, and he was certainly not prepared to face against a being on the level of a Dead Apostle.

To his clear relief though, Shirou gave him an order he was more than happy to follow, _"Contact the local Church. We're gonna need reinforcements. I'll stay here and try to get these people to leave."_

With a swift nod,he bolted to the direction of the Church, careful of not using Magecraft in front of the non-Magi.

Too bad he didn't make it five steps before the front door of the house flew open.

Just as instantly, a large black _thing_ pounced onto him. Shirou immediately sprang into action, even as the members of Overwatch merely looked on in horror. A gleaming white blade appeared in the hand of the white haired man. He violently slashed at the _thing_ , causing it to jump back.

Shirou looked back at the Enforcer as brain s grip tightened. He was dead, his face etched into terror and pain, while the remains of his stomach littered the road.

He couldn't save him.

"To think, one of my beasts would be forced back."

Out of the doorway, a man stood. Pale, white haired, and wearing a trench coat. The black beast made its way towards the figure, while the Overwatch agents raised their weapons.

Shirou bit back a curse. Beasts, the stench of a Dead Apostle, and the appearance of the man all pointed to his identity.

"Nrvnqsr Chaos of the Dead Apostle Ancestors."

* * *

The pale man raised his brow, "Oh? You know of me then? You don't look to be a Church Executor though."

Lena was, once more, terrified. One moment, the man with Shirou was running away. The next, he was being torn apart by _something._ She had her guns raised, ready to fight if needed, but her hands were quite visibly shaking. Dead Apostle Ancestor? Nrvnqsr Chaos? Church Executor? What the _hell_ was going on?

"Freeze!" One of the nameless agents with her screamed out. This was unnatural. The man looked at him as if he were bored. Without warning, the man's torso started to form another, bigger mass. Soon enough, a large black wolf with glowing red eyes stood in front on them.

They started shooting. The hail of bullets hitting the creature, but doing nothing. Lena grabbed a Pulse Bomb, a new type of sticky explosive that Winston had given to her for field testing, and rushed forward.

The bullets didn't stop coming. She threw the Bomb as far as she could, hoping for the best. A large explosion that threw almost everyone to the ground, then smoke.

"Ceasefire!" Shouted Angela, while lowering her own Blaster. She could hear Shirou click his tongue from his position next to them. She didn't even notice him move when they had started firing.

Slowly, the smoke faded away.

The beast was unharmed. In a burst of speed, it bum rushed at them. Unlike before, Shirou seemed prepared for it. The curved white sword in his hands locked against the wolf's fangs. He twisted it, and with a grunt of effort, managed to tear out a few of its teeth.

The wolf howled in pain, but Shirou didn't let up. He tore through its mouth and stabbed it in its side. The beast started to thrash around, trying to dislodge the sword. Shirou brought up his other hand, and with it, a black sword, appearing as if it were always there. He slashed downwards, and black blood came flying out of the new wound.

Finally, the beast managed to shake off the assault, as Shirou was thrown back towards them. Lena, Angela and the rest of the agents were understandably shocked. The pale 'man' only had a look of confusion on his face.

"Those are…Noble Phantasms? But how?" He said to Shirou, whose only response was a glare. The 'man' shrugged as the wolf growled, "No matter. I'll pry that information out of you, one way or another." He smirked as his body once more separated and coalesced into a number of different creatures.

Among them were giant bears, what looked to be a primitive tiger, some sort of giant crab, and was that a _fucking Pegasus_?

Even Shirou seemed perplexed at the last one.

After only a few seconds, they were all surrounded. Lena gulped. While she was confident that she'd survive due to her Chronal Accelerator, she wasn't quite sure for everyone else. She could try to help thin the herd, but the sheer number of them would be too much, especially if they came at the group all at once.

As if on cue, all of the beasts roared and the nameless agents and Angela raised hell. Shirou on the other hand, stood stock still. The creatures were coming in fast, but Shirou looked as if-

" _I am the bone of my sword._ "

* * *

It was a sword of the coming dawn. It was a sword meant to inspire hope, by bringing forth light at the darkest of nights. It was a sword that shouldn't exist, a sword that _doesn't_ exist, but now it was in his hands.

" _Dawnbreaker!_ "

A large burst of light emitted from the sword. All around them, the creatures froze in their spot and crumbled into dust. This was the power of Dawnbreaker, the Bane of the Undead.

It was something that he had managed to glimpse many years back, when Zelretch had decided to Shanghai him into going into a parallel dimension. In the end, it had him helping a few people deal with a necromancer trying to desecrate a shrine.

That said, as Dawnbreaker didn't 'exist' in this dimension, Gaia wasn't as quick to realize that the weapon was actually a fake, and thus it took him less Prana to Trace than most holy weapons. Along with this, he had the ability to slightly change what constituted as 'Undead' so long as it was close enough to the definition. All in all, it had become a favorite of his when dealing with Dead Apostles in close quarters.

Speaking of Dead Apostles, Nrvnqsr Chaos was merely looking on as if he hadn't just wiped out his horde.

"I see…I recognize you now…" Chaos made a disgusted face as if he remembered particularly bad, "A guinea pig of that damn Marshall…"

Shirou held the Artifact in both hands, "I am giving you one last chance, Nrvnqsr Chaos, to surrender."

A beat.

Then, laughter. First, a chuckle, which turned hysterical moments later.

"Surrender? SURRENDER?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SPEAKING TO, BOY?!"

The Vampire's form began to morph grotesquely, as if it were struggling to maintain what it was trying to do. His head grew to nearly three times its previous size, while his body became much more muscular. Claws, longer than Dawnbreaker, wear growing on his hands and feet. He was now completely black, the only other color being his red, beady eyes.

" **I shall enjoy tearing you apart.** " The Apostle said, showing off his large serrated teeth. The statement was oddly calm, especially for what he looked like.

Nrvnqsr Chaos vanished.

Shirou whirled around.

Two of the eight agents were beheaded. The rest didn't even realize it. Tracer and Mercy were confused from where they were.

He pumped as much Prana into his legs, almost causing them to shatter.

Four more were literally torn to shreds. The pilot and medic could only watch in shock.

He was almost there. If he could save even one person-

One of them tried to run away. He was immediately thrown into the ground as a blood splatter.

" _ **STOP!**_ "

The last of the nameless saw what had happened to her friends. She knew that she'd die here. She accepted her fate as Chaos' maw swallowed her whole.

With a scream of fury, Shirou Broke Dawnbreaker and slashed at the Vampire. The explosion of pure light normally meant that the area would be a shouldering crater, but due to Dawnbreaker's properties, Tracer, Mercy and the terrain were unharmed.

The same could be said for Nrvnqsr Chaos.

Shirou looked on in unmasked horror as the creature that was Chaos remained unscathed.

" **Is that all?** "

The Enforcer jumped to the side, barely avoiding the outstretched claw. Shirou grit his teeth. While yes, Dawnbreaker was supposed to be effective in this situation, the fact that the Apostle didn't even have a single scratch on him was rattling to say the least. The Dead Apostles on which he had used Dawnbreaker on had at least sustained wounds because of it.

He Traced Kanshou and Bakuya, and got into his stace. A suicidal stance, but one that was perfect for someone like him. It explicitly showed openings as bait, taking advantage of anyone's tendency to hit their enemy's weak spot.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Tracer and Mercy run for cover. Good. While he didn't know why Chaos hadn't killed them outright, he wasn't complaining.

A life spared is a life saved, after all.

* * *

"Lena, we need to get out of here, _now_. " Angela was panicking. She never panicked, so why now? It may have to do with the fact that they were watching two…she didn't even know what!...fight. They were inhuman. They went against everything she knew about science.

They needed to leave. That would be the best course of action. Let them both fight. Hopefully, they both kill each other.

The sound of clashing blades. Angela took a daring look, and merely gulped as all she could see were two blurs.

"Come on, Lena. The helicopter is still operational. We cou-"

"No."

Her head turned almost faster than light, "What?! Did you see those two? That 'Dead Apostle' will kill us! And who knows what this Emiya would do, if that's even his real name!"

"I'm still not leaving."

Lena's eyes were focused on the two blurs from their hiding place, "Something…something is just telling me that Shirou is the good guy, and that he'll need our help soon."

The beast and the other man locked claws and blades respectively. The creature now sported several small cuts, almost completely unnoticeable. Shirou on the other hand had several large gashes on his back, and he was bleeding profusely from his head.

This wasn't looking good.

"Lena, he's going to _die_ , and unless we leave, _we'll be next_. We need to go. Please."

Lena didn't budge.

Shirou smirked.

"Trace: Overedge."

The swords in his hands burst into light. After a second of pause, the light faded to reveal the two swords had grown in length, and now had feather-like extensions at their guards. With a rough shove, the man in red cut the thing's right arm clean off. The Dead Apostle roared in pain and pushed away from him.

" **...Lucky shot.** "

' _Now this is interesting, isn't it?'_

Angela jumped. Who the hell?

' _Relax. I don't bite.'_

Great, she was gonna die with voices in her head that aren't hers.

' _That's a tad bit rude, don't you think?'_

Ignore it, and it'll go away.

' _I'm not some high school drama, you know? Look, I'm getting off track.'_

Was she ever on track?

' _Yes, you were. Now, you need to help that idiot over there when-and I mean_ when _-he needs it. Can't tell you why, but you just have to.'_

Now, the voice was telling her to go in and basically commit suicide? Was she this off the far end?

' _No, you-oooh that had to hurt.'_

Shirou now had a new scar to show people on his chest, if he survived this.

' _Now, here's what you need to do-'_

She didn't need this. If she was gonna die, at least let her be sane. An exasperated sigh echoed through her head.

' _By the Root, you're not insane. Look, see that little necklace that Oxton always wears? You need to get that to him, as quick as you can.'_

...Wouldn't calling yourself not insane qualify you as insane?

' _Gah, you know what? Repeat after me. If Oxton doesn't react, then you're insane, and you can go be Dead Apostle meal.'_

* * *

Lena watched the ongoing battle with narrowed eyes. She had to help Shirou, but how? This Nrvnqsr Chaos was too powerful, more so than even what little she saw of Doomfist.

Here Pistols wouldn't do anything, her Pulse Bomb didn't even scratch him, and in ten seconds flat their entire squad was dead.

The necklace she wore warmed up as she grabbed at it. She saw Shirou take blow after blow, despite the advantage of greater reach, and Chaos having one less arm.

An epiphany. Her Chronal Accelerator. While she wasn't privy to the inner workings of it, Winston had once told her that if it was damaged enough, the resulting explosion would more than likely force everyone in the vicinity into wherever she ended up. Of course, it would also mean destroying a large portion of the surrounding area, but really, collateral damage is better than letting this Dead Apostle loose.

Lena slowly took off the Accelerator. She hardened her grip on her Pistol. She would need to hurry. The distance between her and Chaos was about ten meters. She didn't know how large the radius was, so she was gonna have to run in there, grab Shirou, and get out before it explodes. Hopefully, Angela wouldn't be caught in the blast.

Lena looked on in grim determination. She needed an opening.

The two longswords faced against a single hand desperately. They flew at each other at speeds that she could barely comprehend. Even though he lacked an arm, Chaos was faster and stronger. She could see Shirou struggling to keep up.

There! Shirou just stabbed the black sword down into the monster's arm, pinning him. She got up from her pos-

" _Steel is my body, fire is my blood."_

She froze. She knew that line. It was part of what she heard during her time on the hill. It had taken her nearly half a year to fill in the blanks of what she heard, and when she did, she hadn't told anyone, not even Angela. Shirou had already said the first line, further solidifying that he was the one on the hill, but how did Angela know it?

She must have voiced her question as Angela's eyes widened, and frantically shook her head, "I-I don't know. There's this voice-" She cut herself off, "Um, he says that he would have spoken to you, but it would have been dangerous?"

He? Who was he? Nevermind that now. She needed to go and take care of Chaos, "We'll talk later, okay?"

"He, um, also says to give Shirou the necklace. Right now."

Her necklace burned, but not unpleasantly.

Lena was conflicted. On one hand, the necklace had become her sort of lucky charm, and since she returned, she almost never left it alone. It was a reminder that what she saw was _real_. She didn't want to lose it.

On the other hand, a voice in Angela's head told her to give the necklace to someone who may just be the man who gave it to her while he was fighting a monster from your worst nightmares.

"...Ah bollocks." Lena rushed to put back the device back onto her, "Angela, can you keep that beam on me? I don't know if I'll make it out of this in one piece."

The doctor nodded, though she still looked scared of the voice in her head.

"Okay," The monster had freed itself from the sword, and was now clashing with the white haired man once more, "In three, two, one. Go!"

* * *

' _What the hell are they doing!?'_

Shirou dodged to the left as the Ancestor's arm came whizzing by. They had fallen into a pattern of sorts. Dodge, dodge, parry, feint, dodge. It was both heart pumping and agonizing to be a part of. One wrong move, and he was dead.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, a disruption came in the form of Tracer and Mercy rushing in. Mercy's Staff had a beam of golden light attached to Tracer, who held something in her right hand while her left kept on firing her gun. The bullets hit their target, but Chaos didn't even seem to notice it.

The Dead Apostle must have noticed his gaze, as he turned around and saw the two.

' _Fuck!'_

The monster vanished, and in a blink of an eye, had clawed at Tracer, but to Shirou's amazement, the wounds healed up. Tracer ran past Chaos, Mercy not far behind.

The Ancestor looked intrigued as he let them pass by, **"That object you are holding...Is it a Mystic Code? No, it can't be. No Mystic Code can stop Basilisk venom, let alone heal wounds inflicted with it."**

" **In fact,"** At this, he turned around, **"It is amazing that you are still alive, Emiya. As expected of someone who survived the Kaleidoscope."**

Shirou said nothing as the the two women made it towards him. True, it was only because of Zelretch that he was even able to move right now. Like many other things regarding the Wizard Marshall, that was a story for another day. For now, he had more pressing matters to deal with.

For example, "What are you two _doing_?" Shirou glared at them both, even as Mercy started to use her Staff on him. The wounds he felt all over his body slowly started to recede, and though his Prana reserves were still low, he at least was in better physical condition.

Wordlessly, Tracer held her hand in front of him. Her necklace. Shirou was confused.

Until he touched it, that is.

It was a necklace, but not a necklace. It was real, but it was just a dream. It was part of a world, but not the World. It existed in his mind and soul, but not his mind and soul.

It was part of Unlimited Blade Works, but not his Unlimited Blade Works.

' _Took you long enough.'_

Archer. His smug voice filtered through his head. How was this possible?

' _Long story short, Oxton somehow made it to my Works, and I gave this necklace to her just to piss off Alaya.'_

Okay, that definitely sounded like something the Counter Guardian would do. That begged the question, why did Tracer just give the necklace to him?

' _Kid, I could see how that Dead Apostle was kicking your ass. And with how most of those bloodsuckers do things, once you're dead, both these two will be next. Then, that's a whole 'nother shit show that I don't want to deal with.'_

That…was enlightening. Shirou took a glance at the monster. He was just standing there, looking on curiously.

' _That's why I'm giving you this. Use it wisely.'_

Shirou's mind was assaulted by information. Hundreds upon thousands of blueprints passed through his mind's eye. While his Unlimited Blade Works was by no means paltry, Archer's Reality Marble still made his look puny in comparison. Eternal service to Alaya would do that to you.

Shirou stumbled a bit as he let go of the necklace back into Tracer's hands. He scoured through the new contents of his Works. Some were too weak for the situation, some were too powerful. They was one that was perfect, however.

"Trace, on."

A blade wielded by a Saint, in the hopes of protecting those who needed it. A Holy Sword, not unlike Excalibur, used to slay a dragon. A Sword that lets no harm come to its wielder, making anyone who uses it practically invincible.

Nrvnqsr Chaos must have realized that something was off. The Apostle moved from his position, previous curiosity disappearing as he understood that what Shirou was doing may just prove dangerous to even him.

It was too late.

The sword had materialized, and the giant claws of the monster in front of him were inches from his face. It was too late to put his guard up.

The claw was deflected.

Eyes widened.

" _Ascalon._ "

A burst of holy light shone from the sword, much brighter than the one earlier. Yes, this was the power of a true Noble Phantasm, an object fueled by the beliefs of all mankind.

Shirou slashed downwards. Another arm gone. A wide sideways slash. A gash on the Apostle's chest.

He stabbed forward, lodging the blade in the wound. Shirou Broke the Phantasm. Chaos roared in agony.

A burst of light, a burst of smoke.

All that remained was a burning pit and three people.

* * *

 **A/N: I was actually writing something else, but the story didn't feel right, so I scrapped it. On a complete whim, I then started writing this. Because of that, here's another chapter of Slipstream. Sidenote: I was actually going to continue writing more for this chapter, but my Google Docs on my phone started to lag, so I'm gonna write the rest eventually.**

 **I'm still marking this story as complete though, because this is more of an extra piece of shit that I didn't expect to come out.**


	4. Shimada

**A/N: y U nO gIvE mE gIlGaMeSh FaTe Go?**

* * *

Shirou fiddled with his fingers as he sat in a room that was obviously used for interrogations. He had been brought in by Tracer and Mercy after the whole Dead Apostle fiasco. Realistically, he could have easily escaped, removed their memories, and go on his merry way. Unfortunately, the dead operatives would be difficult to explain, especially to the digital records in the main Overwatch headquarters.

That's why, after leaving a hastily scrawled message to his squad behind the Overwatch members' backs, he had went along quietly. He had faith in his men to do what they had to do.

That was over three hours ago. The first hour involved waiting for pickup and travel time to this location. The next two hours was him sitting in this room. Throughout it all, he had attempted to contact Archer once more, to no avail.

Without anything else to do, Shirou sighed and leaned back in his chair and waited.

The least they could do was give him a meal or something.

* * *

 _Case Report #2067-11-17-01_

 _Location: [Classified by order of Vice Director Bartholemoi]_

 _Commanding Enforcer: Senior Enforcer Shirou Emiya_

 _..._

 _The operation was a standard protocol Sealing Designate investigation. At 1400 hours, Senior Enforcer Emiya disabled the Bounded Fields, but the Reinforcement on the building was too powerful to be disabled safely. Evacuation of any and all civilians were then ordered and carried out for the next three hours._

 _At approximately 1700 hours, an aircraft carrying the 'Overwatch' insignia landed on the property. Senior Enforcer Emiya made contact. At this time, Enforcer Roderick had returned to inform Senior Enforcer Emiya of the evacuations._

 _The details of what happened next are scarce. Only the bodies of Enforcer Roderick and ten currently unnamed 'Overwatch' agents were found, while the surrounding area was destroyed. Tests of the area revealed that Senior Enforcer Emiya may have fought against a Dead Apostle of considerable power, though without his input, it is only speculation._

 _Senior Enforcer Emiya himself looks to have either been captured, or went along willingly with 'Overwatch', as the aircraft was seen exiting the scene._

 _When Enforcers arrived on the scene and investigated further, a note from Senior Enforcer Emiya was found on the body of Enforcer Roderick. A copy of the note is contained in Addendum 1._

 _As of the time of writing this report, Enforcers are in the process of rebuilding the surrounding area to minimize the possible leaks to non-Magi._

 _..._

* * *

A loud slam on the table in front of him jolted Shirou wide awake.

"I hope you had a nice nap." Said the woman in front of him. The woman looked to be well in her fifties, while a curious tattoo could be seen under one of her eyes. Shirou shrugged, "I've had worse."

The woman chuckled a bit, "Ana Amari." She said, extending her hand. It took him a moment to realize that she was introducing herself. He quickly took her hand and replied, "Shirou Emiya."

Ana raised an eyebrow, even as they shook hands, "Not even gonna lie?"

"I figure that both Ms. Oxton and Ms. Zeigler had already informed you of what happened. As such, there wouldn't be much of a point in lying."

"Smart man." The woman took a seat in the empty chair in front of the table, "Do you know where you are?"

"Not a single clue."

Ana grinned, "That so? Then let me be the first to welcome you to Watchpoint: Gibraltar."

* * *

 _Case Report #2067-11-17-02_

 _Location: [Classified by order of Vice Director Bartholemoi]_

 _Commanding Enforcer: Senior Enforcer Shirou Emiya_

 _..._

 _At approximately 1900 hours, Enforcer Bones noticed that the Reinforcement on the building had decayed away. Enforcers immediately entered. Entry to the house was unhindered. Inside, the house looked as if it had been abandoned for at least a decade. Further travel into the building revealed several dozen mutilated corpses of unknown individuals, possibly civilians. The bodies led down into the basement, which was locked by several runes on the door._

 _Enforcers who specialized in runes determined that the door would only be accessible via fresh human blood. Enforcer Simpson then cut himself and offered his blood to the door. The runes activated, and rather than opening, the runes proceeded to drain Enforcer Simpson of all blood in his body. Attempts to stop the process met in failure, and within forty-five seconds, Enforcer Simpson was dead._

 _After another second, the door to the basement opened. Enforcer Jenkins carried Enforcer Simpson's body to the others outside, while four Enforcers investigated the basement._

 _The basement looked to be a Magi Workshop. Several research papers were scattered throughout the room, while a ritual circle was drawn in the center of the floor. At the corner of the room, there was a closet containing several hundred Alchemy ingredients, all of them either rare, illegal, or both._

 _Upon closer investigation of the research papers, all of them detailed findings into the Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars, and how to seemingly reinstate them in a different location. Several pages also detailed how 'chaos would be bought with blood'. It was inferred that the Magi wanted to summon a Servant with blood as the catalyst._

 _To do so, however, a Holy Grail War must occur, and according to the papers, the only way to do so would have been to [Classified]. It seems that the resulting explosion of the home due to mass-Reinforcement was a part of the steps in starting the Holy Grail War, though what exactly is still largely unknown._

 _..._

* * *

"So, tell me about this 'Dead Apostle'." Said Ana while Shirou looked on. He said nothing.

"Oh? And I thought you were gonna tell me the truth?"

"Not lying and simply not talking are two very different concepts." Shirou replied, staring right into her eyes. A beat.

"Fine then. How did you manage to do what did? Pulling out several swords from nowhere? Having the ability to create large, destructive waves of light that didn't hurt anyone else?"

"Would you believe me if I said magic?" A smirk played on Shirou's lips. People often ignored this answer as something born out of sarcasm. In truth, he technically wasn't lying.

Ana's eyes narrowed, "You think this is a game? People have died because of an unknown element out there. People will _continue_ to die if we remain in the dark! Is that what you want?!"

The white-haired man slammed his fist on the table. Another bout of silence.

"You think that I don't know that?" He whispered, "You think that I would let people die all because of secrets?"

"That's what you're doing isn't it?" Ana shot back. Shirou gave a laugh, one empty of any mirth,

"Ms. Amari, if I may be frank," He leaned forwards, "Not telling you might just _save_ lives."

* * *

 _..._

 _Due to the circumstances, any and all information regarding Case Report #2067-11-17-02 are to be withheld from Senior Enforcer Emiya. You should know how he would act if he finds out that someone was trying to restart the Heaven's Feel ritual. That said, Lord El-Melloi II has also expressed the desire to destroy all of the information regarding the process as soon as possible, and I happen to agree with him._

 _Nothing regarding the ritual will leave that property, intact or otherwise. Get to it._

 _-Vice Director Bartholemoi_

 _..._

* * *

"Well that was productive." Said Ana as she approached Winston, Lena and Angela. The three of them were watching the interrogation from behind one-way glass. After his last statement, Shirou had refused to talk, even under threat.

"And he seemed like such a charmer," Ana continued sarcastically, "At any rate, Winston, have you found anything on him?"

The scientist sighed and put down his tablet, "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." He fixed his glasses, "Well, that would be a lie. I _did_ find a Shirou Emiya, but that one was born in the 1990's, and I'm pretty sure that that guy isn't over seventy."

Ana rubbed her temple. The man was proving to be too much of a headache, "So the only thing we really have on him is Lena's testimony?"

"Unfortunately."

"Damn. Where's Jack when you need him?" The older woman started down next to Angela. Said medic offered her a cup of tea, which Ana gratefully took. Lena sat silently in the corner, holding her necklace in her hands.

"...We can't just keep him here." Said Angela after a few moments, "We don't have the jurisdiction to do so."

"What choice do we have?" Ana took another sip of her tea, "He's a complete unknown, and he's proven himself capable of killing everyone here with little effort."

"He wouldn't do that."

Everyone turned toward the direction of the voice, "Lena," the sniper started, "You don't know that. For all we know, he's just waiting for the right moment to do so." At this, Winston nervously checked the cameras. Shirou was still just sitting there.

Lena glared at Ana, "He wouldn't do that." She repeated, gripping her necklace harder, "He's a good person."

"Whether or not that's true is still very much debated."

"Then let us find out." A new voice called out, one tinged with a robotic voice.

* * *

 _I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it, I can feel it. I can feel it, I can feel it, I can feel it, I can feel it._ _I can feel it i can feel it i can feel it ican feel iti canfeel it it it it it itititititfeelsme._

* * *

Jenkins sighed as she watched what must have amounted to decades of research burn. Her inner Magus screamed at her, telling her to save what she could. She ignored that part of her. Orders were orders.

"Last bit of the papers," said Church, bringing along a small box, "Look at this one. 'I can feel it'. Looks to be like some sort of fetish shit."

Jenkins rolled her eyes, "Will you grow up?" She remarked as she threw the box into the inferno. Church laughed, "Oh come on, you know you like it. Speaking of which," he slicked back his hair, "Would you-"

"No."

Church immediately deflated, "Dammit." He brightened up quite quickly though, "Bah, surely _some_ girl will be willing to go out with me."

"Dream on."

An amusing conversation, if one that often happened between the two. It was due to this that they never noticed a lone jar, tucked away in a corner of the basement.

"Okay, everyone clear out. We're burning the property." Jenkins called out to everyone. The house would be nothing but ashes when she was done with it. It was, after all, decided that the house itself was a research material, and was thus needed to be completely destroyed. They chose to burn it because of the convenience of simply pinning the blame on a house fire.

Soon enough, everyone was outside, patiently waiting for the grand finale. A quick roll call, and the fire raged on. It encompassed the entire property in seconds. In the basement, heat seeped through the entire room.

A jar cracked.

It _burned_.

* * *

"Genji," said Ana in surprise, "I didn't realize you were here."

"I would like to speak to this Shirou Emiya." The cyborg said, already making his way to the cell door. Angela looked down sadly as Genji pointedly ignored her.

"I can't just allow you to talk to him, Shimada."

"I do not care if you allow me or not."

He entered the room and closed the door with a firm 'click'.

"I swear, that boy is more stubborn than Fareeha at times." The Egyptian grumbled out, but didn't make a move to remove the cyborg from the room. She sat herself back down and prepared to watch the conversation, the others following suit.

They watched as Genji slowly, almost methodically, made his way to the only other chair in the room. To their confusion, the Overwatch member held out his left hand.

" _Shimada Genji._ " For a moment, they could see Shirou look in confusion, before realization poured onto his face, " _Emiya Shirou._ " They shook hands, then silence. The four people behind the glass watched on in baited breath.

" _I have to say, a fellow countryman all the way out here…who would've known?_ " Shirou chuckled a bit, " _Quite refreshing actually, to speak Japanese again._ " The white-haired man added, though Genji didn't seem to be in the mood for small talk.

" _I can get you out of here._ " Shirou raised his brow, " _Oh? I suppose you want something in return then? Information on what happened earlier, I'm guessing?_ " The four onlookers collectively frowned. They were obviously speaking Japanese, but none of them ever learned of the Oriental language, having no reason to do so.

" _I do not need information on the Dead Apostle Ancestor. In fact, I would like to thank you for taking care of Nrvnqsr Chaos._ "

Shirou scoffed openly his earlier mirth already gone, " _Is this your plan? Pretend you already know everything so that I spill the beans? Better luck next time._ "

" _Wrought Iron Magus._ " Three words, and Shirou froze, " _Adopted son of the Magus Killer, Emiya Kiritsugu. Decorated Senior Enforcer of the Mage's Association. Need I go on?_ "

People were listening. People who clearly weren't Magi, and this Genji Shimada just blurted out something that's supposed to be under wraps. While it wouldn't be much of a problem to erase their memories, hell they might not even understand what they were saying, the way this Shimada so casually said it was irritating.

Shimada. Something about that name clicked in Shirou's mind.

The older man shook his head, a blank look on his face, " _...The Shimada clan, a line of Magi most known for the use of unique Reinforcement techniques in the form of tattoos, that not only augment the physical body, but also their own Magic Circuits._ "

Shirou stared coldly at the other man, " _The Shimada clan, an international weapons dealer that distributes subtle Mystic Codes to the mundane black market._ "

The four behind the glass watched as Shirou leaned forward, " _The Shimada clan, a known human trafficking organization that specializes in kidnapping humans and selling them to Dead Apostles._ "

" _The Shimada clan, a cesspool of degenerates that I personally ended._ "

All was silent. Though the observers didn't know what was happening, the fact that Genji was silent was concerning. Whatever Shirou said must have had an effect on the Shimada.

"Winston, are you recording this?" Angela found herself asking, to which the scientist only nodded. They all looked back to the unfolding scene. The two men were still silent.

" _I have nothing to do with the Shimada, not anymore._ "

Shirou crossed his arms, " _I don't believe you. I've seen what the Shimada are capable of. If one of them were to even think of leaving it, that person would be dead within the hour._ "

Genji chuckled, but it was one that was seemingly mocking, "What do you think happened to me?"

* * *

 _Case Report #2067-11-17-03_

 _Location: [Classified by order of Vice Director Bartholemoi]_

 _Commanding Enforcer: Senior Enforcer Shirou Emiya_

 _..._

 _As of 2300 hours, area is now clear for all Non-Magi. Memories have been replaced, while false news has been implanted into the media. They shall recall that there had been a large fire in in the house, and false evidence pointing to arson has also been scattered throughout the area._

 _As of the time of writing, Senior Enforcer Emiya is still MIA, with no clues as to his current whereabouts._

 _..._

* * *

Startled at Genji's shift to English, Shirou said nothing. The three women and one gorilla all blinked.

"Hanzo Shimada," Genji spat out, his electronic-laced voice making it sound harsher, if that was possible, "My so called 'brother' was the one that did this to me under orders from the elders. As far as they're concerned, I died bleeding out in the middle of the street." For a moment Shirou felt a pang of sympathy. Then, he realized what the Shimada was asking for.

"You want me to help destroy the Shimada."

"You catch on quick." Genji nodded, internally happy that someone as strong as the famed Wrought Iron Magus would be-

"I refuse."

In an instant, Genji was furious, "What?!"

Shirou stared back, his eyes seemingly echoing pity, "You wish to destroy the Shimada clan not for justice, but for a petty sense of revenge."

The spectators frowned as Shirou continued, "Vengeance will never amount to anything." He said with finality. In a blink of an eye, Genji had punched Shirou with his robotic arm. Angela jumped from her seat and grabbed her Caduceus Staff while Ana rushed to the door, her Sleep Dart in hand. Winston and Lena merely sat in shock. They never thought that Genji, while emotionally distressed, would resort to physical violence.

Shirou bled from his nose, but his face never changed. It remained as stoic as ever, as if the punch didn't even hurt. It only angered the cyborg even more. Genji reached for his Dragonblade, ready to kill the man who dared to say his mission was petty.

He had barely drawn it when he felt a small prick on his organic arm.

* * *

Lena didn't know what to think anymore. She knew that Shirou was a good guy, and that he would do the right thing when it came down to it. How would she know, one might ask. In all honesty, even she didn't know why. Maybe it was because she's already net him several times before?

At any rate, it didn't matter. Ana was already back in the room interrogating him after she knocked out Genji. They wouldn't believe her anyway. Not when her only proof is a little necklace.

Speaking of the necklace, where it previously brought a sense of calm to her, it now felt…empty. Well, not so much as empty, but rather it felt muted. Which is why she felt as nervous as she did right now.

"What d'you of him, big guy?" She asked Winston. The scientist adjusted his glasses and hummed.

"I really don't know. He seems like a good guy, but that thing he said about saving people by not telling us sounded ominous." Said Winston as he rubbed his chin. Slowly, he reached for an unopened jar of peanut butter, "And then there's the fact that the only Shirou Emiya I could find was a high school report back in 2004. Pretty weird, if you ask me." With a satisfying pop, Winston opened the jar and tasted the peanut butter. As if it were a second thought, he offered some to Lena.

She waved him off. What the scientist said only added more questions. Who really was the man in the room next to her?

"Welp, I'm gonna try to translate what he and Genji talked about. Wanna watch?"

With a soft smile, Lena accepted. Leave it up to Winston to try to cheer her up with translations. A few clicks on the keyboard later, Winston frowned. She noticed immediately, "What's wrong?"

"The recording seems to be corrupted." He sounded frustrated as he continued to type, "The corruption is similar to the Shimada clan's scrambling devices, something we haven't been able to crack until now."

Winston left his chair and made his way to the nearby shelves. He grabbed a small device and walked towards the unconscious form of Genji. Winston waved the device around the Shimada. A loud beep sounded as it approached Genji's right arm.

Winston set the device down and looked at the cyborg's arm closely, "Yep. Here it is. Standard Shimada scrambler." With a sigh, he made his way back to his chair.

"Looks like we'll have to ask either 'Shirou' or Genji about what they talked about. I don't think they'd be willing to talk though."

Lena stayed silent at this. Again, she didn't know what to do.

* * *

A few days later, Shirou left the Overwatch base a free man. With no evidence of any wrongdoing, the peacekeeping organization had no right to hold him for interrogations. The only thing against him was the lack of information on him, which could have been attributed to him living off grid.

A ride off the Rock of Gibraltar later, and he was now standing in the middle of France, with no money or anything else besides the clothes on his back.

That said, while he wasn't completely sure, he suspected that he was still being followed by undercover Overwatch agents. He'd need to contact the Clock Tower discreetly, if that's the case. First things first though, he needed food and a place to sleep.

Well, hopefully, his cooking hasn't gotten rusty over the years.

* * *

 _Day 475_

 _Something cannot exist from nothing. The Holy Grail cannot manifest from simply the ley lines beneath the town. The only way it can do so is if one of either two things happen: the first option is that a new Lesser Grail is created. This option is out, as only the three founding families have access on how to do it._

 _The second is much easier. A remnant of the previous Grail is exposed to the ley lines. It took me a year, but I've managed to obtain the last shards of the Fuyuki Grail. It's a miracle that it has persisted for this long, but I'm not one for questioning good fortune._

 _I've placed it in an unused corner in my Workshop for now, under heavy runes that hide its existence from those who don't know of it beforehand._

 _Soon enough, my one wish will come true._

* * *

 **A/N: Shorter than the last chapter, but it's done. For now at least. Also, sorry for the delay. Was moving to a new apartment, so yeah.**

 **Also, the way I wrote that last bit was slightly intentional. I want to keep this story open, just incase I suddenly get a bout of inspiration. That said, it's still a complete story, even without a continuation.**


End file.
